1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to pharmacy services, and more specifically, to a method and a system for remotely supervising and verifying technical pharmacy functions performed by a non-pharmacist located in an institutional pharmacy
2. Description of the Related Art
A pharmacist's scope of practice in institutions, such as hospitals or correctional facilities, includes preparing, packaging, compounding, and labeling medication, compounding sterile products, as well as other medication related activities. Many technical functions involving the preparation and distribution of drugs may be performed in the pharmacy by non-pharmacist personnel, usually a pharmacy technician or licensed nurse. When a non-pharmacist performs such functions a pharmacist must generally verify their work.
When a non-pharmacist performs technical pharmacy functions, such as pursuant to a written medication order, a pharmacist typically verifies the work, in part, by comparing it to either a copy of the original medication order, or a medication order previously entered into the patient's medication profile. The pharmacist also supervises the work of the non-pharmacist, and verifies that the medication product has been correctly and accurately prepared, labeled, compounded, and/or packaged. When a non-pharmacist performs technical pharmacy functions involving prepackaging, labeling, bulk compounding, or batch preparation of medications that will serve as stock medication in the pharmacy department, a pharmacist must generally verify the work in much the same manner. The pharmacist must supervise the work of the non-pharmacist to verify that the medication has been correctly and accurately prepared, labeled, compounded, and/or packaged.
The majority of institutional pharmacies do not have pharmacists on duty 24 hours, 7 day per week, yet patients frequently require medications that are only available in the pharmacy department of an institution when no pharmacist is on duty. Under such circumstances, no pharmacist can supervise or verify the performance of the pharmacy functions performed. As a result, patients may receive medication that has been prepared, packaged, compounded, and labeled without being first verified by a pharmacist. In some cases, a pharmacist on duty later may retrospectively verify that the pharmacy work was performed correctly. For example, when it is necessary that a patient receive a new order for a medication that is only available from the pharmacy after regular pharmacy hours, a nurse, or other non-pharmacist personnel, may enter the pharmacy to obtain the medication for the patient. The patient will have already received the medication by the time a pharmacist returns to duty. Upon the pharmacist's return, he must verify that the nurse used the correct medication, in the correct dose and dosage form, as well as verify documentation regarding the patient for whom the medication was removed, the person removing the medication, and when the removal occurred. An error may thus be discovered, but not prevented by the pharmacist.
Another example of sub-optimal medication safety that may result from lack of pharmacist availability is demonstrated when medication is removed from the pharmacy after hours in a multi-dose packaging form. While this practice increases the potential for medication errors, the lack of pharmacist availability may necessitate it, as follows. If a multi-dose stock bottle of medication was purchased and received in the pharmacy when a pharmacist is not on duty, the unit dose packaging process must wait for the pharmacist's supervision and verification. In this case, if a patient requires this same medication before a pharmacist is on duty, regulations may require that the entire stock bottle be removed from the pharmacy in order for the patient to receive a dose.